Jaw-dropping moment driver stops to take a selfie after stumbling out of car fireball

Traffic cameras in Washington captured the jaw-dropping moment a man stopped to take a selfie just minutes after his car burst into flames.

Just before 2am on Friday morning, Washington State Department of Transportation captured a car on their street traffic cameras that was engulfed in flames on the shoulder of Interstate 5 near 73rd Street East, ABC News 4 reported. 

In the footage, the unnamed man appears to be nonchalantly walking around his burning RAV4, seemingly investigating the scene.

At one point, the driver steps even closer to the fire and opens his drivers side door.

He remains so close to his vehicle that it appears as though the blaze is about to swallow him up.

Just seconds before crews arrived to extinguish the fire, the man appears to stumble towards the far right lane of the interstate before holding his phone up and snapping a selfie with the raging fire as the backdrop.

He then heads back towards the barrier and takes a seat as flashing lights from emergency service vehicles approach the scene.

As firefighters exit their truck and head towards the blaze, the man appears to be unable to sit still and constantly moves around before parking himself back on the barrier and dropping his head down to his lap.

The situation seems to escalate when the fireball begins to emit a series of explosions and sparks just moments after fire crews arrived.

Huge clouds of red and black smoke start to saturate the frame as firemen hose down the vehicle, seemingly having the incident under control in just a few minutes.

As firefighters spent the last few seconds of the footage fully extinguishing the blaze, the man can be seen talking to a trooper before backing up and attempting to sit back down on the barrier.

But only a second later, he gets back up and turns around as the trooper appears to cuff him.

The SUV was towed right after the flames were successfully put out.

Wyatt Pearson, a Washington State Patrol trooper, told ABC that nobody was injured from the ordeal.

But the driver was arrested at the scene for suspicion of driving under the influence and resisting arrest.

Troopers later found drugs and drug paraphernalia in the man's car. 

He was later booked into jail where he was charged with DUI, resisting arrest, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. 

The cause of the explosion is still not known at this time but authorities are opening up an investigation as to how the fire began.

Car fires are fairly rare . In 2021, there were roughly 174,000 vehicle fires reported across the country, according to Statista. 

The most common cause of such fires is when flammable liquids, including gasoline and oil, accidently ignite from either a spark, an overheated engine or a hot exhaust, according to Dulaney Lauer Thomas. 

Many flammable liquids can easily evaporate, including fumes and vapors from the car. Even if there isn't a leak in the gas tank, the fumes from the tank alone could sometimes be enough to create a flame large enough to travel back to the tank and ignite the fuel. 

In a similar fashion, oil vapors in the engine of the car are specifically designed to ignite, all with the help of the engine's spark plugs.

If that same ignition is not controlled and too much vapor is expelled, the possibility of an explosion is on the table.

And of course, electronic gadgets and technology that most current cars are made with can pose the risk of igniting. Radios, power windows and seats, sunroofs and seat warmers all need electricity to function.

If a single electrical wire is damaged or malfunctions, there is the possibility of an electrical blaze.

It could lead to the creation of a spark that starts a fire in the wiring or behind the dashboard. It could also ignite upholstery and other flammable items within the vehicle.

A driver convicted of a DUI in court risks a license suspension from 90 days up to four years.